It's the first time the state has tried to balance the environmental needs of a stream -- which include getting enough water year-round to support aquatic life -- with the human need to have a good supply of drinking water.

Betsy Wingfield, the chief of the state Department of Environmental Protection's water protection and land reuse bureau, said the state has been working toward this goal since the 1970s.

Once the regulations are in effect, she said, the state will be "ahead of the curve and glad to be there.''

However, one member of the team that helped write the regulations -- the state's water utilities -- is not pleased with the draft.

Betsy Gara, director of the Connecticut Waterworks Association -- which represents 90 percent of the state's private and municipal water utilities -- said the association's members have "significant reservations'' about the proposed regulations and the restrictions they might put on a utility's ability to draw water from a stream for its customers.

"The regulations would impact public health and safety because we'd have less water available to our customers,'' Gara said.

And to meet some of the requirements of the regulations, utilities would have to make major capital investments to upgrade their infrastructure. That would mean higher water rates for customers, she said.

"Some utilities will have to find new sources of water to get a new supply,'' Gara said. That, too, would be expensive.

George S. Logan, director of planning for Aquarion Water Co., which supplies water to many towns in Fairfield County and depends on the Saugatuck and Aspetuck rivers to fill its reservoirs, said utilities do see the need to protect the ecosystems they depend on.

"But we see a need to balance that with the needs of humans,'' Logan said.

The regulations would set up a classification system that would rank streams in four tiers. The first tier would be the rivers with the most environmental value -- those deserving the most protection.

The fourth tier, according to the DEP, are "rivers that past practices have resulted in a significant deviation from the natural stream flow pattern.'' Restoring such rivers, the DEP said, "would cause an extreme economic hardship.''

Miner said she had problems with the fourth category.

"I'm worried about which river will be placed in that category,'' she said. "I'm never ready to give up on any river.''

Miner said environmentalists can use the Shepaug as an example of how natural flows in a river can be enhanced without depriving anyone of drinking water.

"I haven't heard any stories about big water rate hikes because of (Shepaug improvements),'' she said.

Miner and Werner of the HVA said that, in fact, the state is lucky compared to places like the American Southwest, where water wars are part of life.